ECM WORLD WATCH: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL NEWS

June 27, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

Migrant children crisis

• 60,000 child migrants detained in last 40 days (BBC) 
• These doctors risked their careers to expose the dangers children face in immigration detention facilities (CNN)
• Feds tell 9th circuit: Detained kids ‘safe and sanitary’ without soap (Courthouse News)
• 4 severely ill migrant toddlers hospitalized after lawyer visits Border Patrol facility (Huffington Post)
• Prepared for arrest, Japanese Americans protest Fort Sill over incoming migrant children (CNHI Oklahoma)

Other national news

• Trump approves strike on Iran, then abruptly pulls back (New York Times) 
• Robert Mueller to testify before House committees (New York Times)
• Supreme Court: Cross can stand on public land in separation of church and state case (NPR)
• Supreme Court Overturns Precedent In Property Rights Case — A Sign Of Things To Come? (NPR
• 'We Have No Choice': Acting ICE Director Defends Planned Immigration Raids  (NPR)

WORLD 

• In rare rebuke to Trump, Senate votes to block Saudi arms sales (NPR)
• EU to extend economic sanctions on Russia until 2020 (Reuters) 
• No drips, no drops: A city of 10 million is running out of water (NPR)
• Blow to Turkey's Erdogan as opposition wins big in Istanbul (Reuters)
• As ratings drop, Putin defends record, says better life awaits Russians (Reuters)
• 95 Christians killed in Mali attack; ‘No one was spared’ (Open Door USA) 

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S.

Migrant crisis

60,000 child migrants detained in last 40 days (BBC)

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan described a surge in apprehensions at the US-Mexico border.

These doctors risked their careers to expose the dangers children face in immigration detention facilities (CNN)

Dr. Scott Allen and Dr. Pamela McPherson were used to working behind the scenes, quietly documenting the devastating things they'd seen. Children's fingers crushed by cell doors. A boy who'd lost nearly a third of his body weight in a matter of days. Incorrect vaccine doses and missed diagnoses… The doctors became whistleblowers, speaking out with a dire warning. Family detention isn't safe, they said, and children's lives are at stake.

Feds tell 9th circuit: Detained kids ‘safe and sanitary’ without soap (Courthouse News)

The Trump administration argued in front of a Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday that the government is not required to give soap or toothbrushes to children apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border and can have them sleep on concrete floors in frigid, overcrowded cells, despite a settlement agreement that requires detainees be kept in “safe and sanitary” facilities.  All three judges appeared incredulous during the hearing in San Francisco, in which the Trump administration challenged previous legal findings that it is violating a landmark class action settlement by mistreating undocumented immigrant children at U.S. detention facilities. 

4 severely ill migrant toddlers hospitalized after lawyer visits Border Patrol facility (Huffington Post)

The kids were unresponsive, feverish and vomiting, yet receiving no medical care, according to lawyers.

Prepared for arrest, Japanese Americans protest Fort Sill over incoming migrant children (CNHI Oklahoma)

… Seventy-five years ago, 120,000 of us were removed from our homes and forcibly incarcerated in prison camps across the country,” said Dr. Satsuki Ina, who held a sign with a photo of her as a child in a WWII internment camp. “We’re here today to protest the repetition of history.” 

Other national news

Trump approves strike on Iran, then abruptly pulls back (New York Times)

President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.

Robert Mueller to testify before House committees (New York Times)

Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel, has agreed to testify in public before Congress next month about his investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, House Democrats announced on Tuesday night. 

Supreme Court: Cross can stand on public land in separation of church and state case (NPR)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot World War I memorial cross can stay on public land at a Maryland intersection… The decision reverses a lower-court ruling that said the memorial is unconstitutional, because it is on public land and maintained at taxpayer expense. The high court's ruling is a major victory for religious groups and the American Legion, which warned that if this cross had to be moved, so, too, would other crosses that serve as war memorials.

Supreme Court Overturns Precedent In Property Rights Case — A Sign Of Things To Come? (NPR)

 A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that property owners can go directly to federal court with claims that state and local regulations effectively deprive landowners of the use of their property.  The 5-4 decision overturned decades of precedent that barred property owners from going to federal court until their claims had been denied in state court.

'We Have No Choice': Acting ICE Director Defends Planned Immigration Raids  (NPR)

 "My duty is not to look at the political optics or the will of the American people; that's for the politicians to decide," Morgan said. "What the American people should want us to do as law enforcement officials is to enforce the rule of law and maintain the integrity of that system.” 

WORLD 

In rare rebuke to Trump, Senate votes to block Saudi arms sales (NPR)

Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, the Senate voted to rein in President Trump's powers, passing three bipartisan resolutions on Thursday blocking the administration from selling billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia. Seven Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, joined all Democrats in voting for the measures blocking against sales to Saudi Arabia, each passing 53-45.

EU to extend economic sanctions on Russia until 2020 (Reuters) 

European Union leaders will decide on Thursday to prolong until the end of January 2020 economic sanctions against Russia over the turmoil in Ukraine and call on Moscow to help bring to justice those guilty of shooting down a passenger plane there in 2014.

No drips, no drops: A city of 10 million is running out of water (NPR)

 In Chennai, India's sixth-largest city, the reservoirs are literally drying up. How are its citizens — and the government — responding?

Blow to Turkey's Erdogan as opposition wins big in Istanbul (Reuters)

Turkey's main opposition claimed a decisive victory on Sunday in Istanbul's re-run election, dealing one of the biggest blows to President Tayyip Erdogan during his 16 years in power and promising a new beginning in the country's largest city

.

As ratings drop, Putin defends record, says better life awaits Russians (Reuters)

 President Vladimir Putin told Russians on Thursday there were signs that years of falling real wages, which have dented his popularity, were drawing to an end and that a government program would deliver higher living standards.

95 Christians killed in Mali attack; ‘No one was spared’ (Open Door USA)

 … An attack in Mali has killed an estimated 95 people, including men, women and children—a third of the village. While there are conflicting reports on the death toll, major news outlets reported “officials say 95 people have been found dead.” A contact on the ground in Mali confirmed that all those who died were Christians.